HARTFORD — The State Board of Education put Southern Connecticut State University's School of Education on probation Wednesday for three years, despite pleas from university officials not to do so.

Before the board's vote was taken, Stephen Hegedus, the recently appointed dean of the education school, told board members that placing the school on probation "implies significant and far-reaching non-compliance with current standards" and is not "an accurate evaluation of our status at this time."

The state board based its decision on the recommendation from the state Department of Education's 12-member education preparation review committee, which cited new and recurring needs for improvement in the SCSU program.

Sarah Barzee, the state Department of Education's chief talent officer, said those areas include the need to improve the assessment of how well teacher candidates are prepared and the collection of data that tracks their success after graduation.

"Southern may have [data collection] systems in place, but they are not … fully functional," Barzee said.

The probationary period started Wednesday and will extend through Sept. 30, 2017, with a report due and an on-site visit required in spring 2017.

Barzee said that the school could seek to speed up the probationary period as early as December when the review committee next meets.

Michael Kozlowski, spokesman for the state Board of Regents for Higher Education, which oversees Southern, said the university is taking this matter "very seriously" and is committed to completing all improvements and coming off probation by the end of the year. He said the university already has taken "substantial" steps toward the needed remediation.

Southern is one of the state's largest producers of teachers, offering more than 30 degree programs that serve more than 2,122 full- and part-time students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The probation will not affect the school's ability to grant degrees.

Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said there "is no doubt cause for concern" about SCSU's program, but, he added, "They have taken impressive steps to move in the direction of a remedy."

After the vote was taken, Bette S. Bergeron, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Southern, said: "We have addressed almost all of the concerns already. They really are not huge, insurmountable issues."

She said she didn't think the probationary status would affect the school's reputation or its students.

Both she and Hegedus are new arrivals at Southern, Bergeron said, and were not at the school in March when the review committee visited.

"It just hit at the wrong time," Bergeron said of the site visit. "When transition happens, things like this happen."

Bergeron also emphasized that the schools' outside accreditor, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, has indicated that SCSU's School of Education has met all of the council's standards. She said a final decision will made in October.

"That's important to keep in mind," Bergeron said. "…It's very difficult to get all standards met, so there is an incongruency between the decision of an external accreditor and the decision of the [state] board."

A year ago, Southern's master of library science program lost its national accreditation with the American Library Association.

Joe Musante, a spokesman for Southern, said it's possible the university will attempt to regain accreditation for that program. He said that students enrolled in the program last year were given two years to complete it and to still receive an ALA-accredited degree.